Member #118677

To save someone the headache I just went through, here are the problems I experienced, and their solutions. At a high level, my problem was related to having OLD FPGA and PIC firmware on the board. After taking one sample, I had to press RESET on the OLS board to obtain a new sample, otherwise the data would be logic low/zeros (no data). DO NOT assume that since your board was made in 2013 (mine was) that it has the latest FW revs loaded!

I had originally started out by downloading the “Alternative OLS Client” (http://ols.lxtreme.nl/). However, I realized I needed the PIC drivers so that the OLS was detected/configured properly in WINXP. To obtain the correct drivers, download the “original” OLS client v3.08 (http://logicsniffer.gadgetfactory.net/index.php?n=LogicSniffer.Download). Within that distro you should find the “Drivers” directory - run the batch file to install the Microchip drivers. After I had installed the drivers, I started the Alternative OLS Client (Note - I did not use the 3.08 sniffer client - it was only used to obtain the Microchip drivers). This is where I discovered the issue where I could only obtain sample data AFTER pressing the RESET button on the OLS hardware. A search led me to this VERY HELPFUL thread (http://dangerousprototypes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5411&p=51881). I had experienced the exact same behavior, and followed the thread author’s advice. Ultimately I ended up using the v3 Demon Verilog FPGA firmware, and the v3.0 Microchip PIC firmware. To load BOTH the PIC firmware and FPGA firmware, I used the “Logic Sniffer Image Loader” referenced in the thread above (http://www.mygizmos.org/ols/olswinloader.html). He is also the designer of the v3 Demon core for the FPGA (http://www.mygizmos.org/ols/fpga.html). Much thanks to him! Note that the v3.0 PIC firmware will be found in the v3.08 Logic Sniffer client folders (OLS-Upgrader –> PIC_firmware). As an aside, I only used the v3.08 OLS Client for the PIC drivers and PIC firmware binaries. v3.08 works but the “alternative” client has many more features and is maintained (current as of Aug 2013).

You will be using the .hex files for the PIC upgrade, and the .bit for the FPGA. Use the default settings for the upgrade tool. After upgrading my firmware I was able to use the 0.9.7 Alternative OLS client and obtain captures without resetting the board! Wooot! I could also read the device’s metadata (no data returned w/ old FW). I will add it might be worth browsing this page for “extras” regarding the OLS (http://www.mygizmos.org/ols/index.html#CASE).

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